Brady girls taking one game at a time

The Eagle girls are off to a better start on the season than the last two years when Brady played in the state tournament.

The 12-1 run is the best ever for the Brady girls and coach Lance Arterburn is quick to credit his players.

“They are a ball savvy group of girls,” Arterburn said. “When we go in the locker room at halftime, they’re analyzing the game and offering suggestions for what might work better. They take ownership and that’s really neat to see.”

The No. 3 (Omaha World-Herald) Eagle girls had to make a few adjustments at halftime of their game at Hayes Center on Friday.

“We had almost as many turnovers in the first quarter as we had the whole rest of the game,” Arterburn said. “I can live with turnovers that come from going full speed but it’s the dumb mistakes that get to you.”

Brady led 9-4 at the end of the first quarter and had pushed ahead 27-11 at halftime against the Cardinals but Arterburn said their play was a little too sloppy.

“We talked about it at halftime and they did what they had to do to clean it up,” he said.

The Eagles went on to defeat the Cardinals 51-33.

Maggie Burke and Brittney Christophersen had nine points each to lead Brady with Valerie Most and Courtney Widick pitching in eight points each and Megan Polt contributing six points.

“It’s kind of nice to get that many girls scoring so close to each other,” Arterburn said. “I know if one kid is having an off night, the others will step in and pick up the slack.”

The Eagles had another slow start against South Loup at home on Saturday but it didn’t take long for the girls to get going.

Brady finished the game with a 60-28 victory.

Arterburn said it can be difficult to get the team’s enthusiasm up when facing an opponent with a 1-10 record such as South Loup.

“I think it’s the nature of the beast,” the coach said, “but these girls know when to crank it up and when they’ve got to finish hard. They keep telling me they’ve got it all under control.”

Again, the Eagles had five girls scoring similar amounts against the Bobcats.

Burke led the way with 11 points followed by Most with nine, Dakota Terry with eight and Polt and Widick chipping in seven each.

Arterburn hopes for a stronger start against Mullen at home on Thursday. The 11-2 Broncos will definitely be gunning for the Eagles.

“I think we’re going to have to play a more complete game,” the coach said. “Mullen will come in here and play hard. They’re going to be one of the better teams we see this year.”

After traveling to Stapleton-McPherson County on Saturday, the Eagles will look to take the championship in the Sandhills Conference Tournament which begins Monday.

As the top seed, Brady will play its first game on Thursday at North Platte St. Pat’s. Game time has not yet been determined.

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